Vietnam's rights pledges met with skepticism

2014-02-06

Vietnam's assurances at a key U.N. meeting that it would ratify a convention against torture this year and take other steps to adhere to international human rights standards have been met with skepticism by rights groups and activists.

Vietnam's vice foreign minister Ha Kim Ngoc, speaking at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday, promised the country will "expand democracy," strengthen rule of law, step up anti-corruption efforts, and beef up national institutions that aim to protect human rights.

He also agreed to "seriously consider" recommendations made at the council during Vietnam's Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process in which U.N. member countries have their rights records scrutinized every four years.

Vietnam is "finalizing steps" to ratify within 2014 the United Nations Convention against Torture, which it signed in 2013, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and is considering joining other human rights treaties, he said.

"It is always the consistent policy of Vietnam to respect, protect, and promote all fundamental human rights and freedoms, which provides the guiding principle for all strategies and policies of our national socioeconomic development," he said.

Vietnam will "seriously deliver" on pledges made upon the country's election to the Human Rights Council last year, "especially those on enhancing measures policies and resources to better ensure human rights in conformity to international standards," Ngoc added.

Recommendations made

Diplomats from Western governments submitting recommendations at the review called on Vietnam to release political prisoners and put a halt to jailing bloggers and government critics.

Others slammed Vietnam for blocking activists from traveling to Geneva for the review and condemned Vietnam's expanded use of the death penalty.

Ngoc said all recommendations had been "noted attentively" but added that some had been based on "a lack of objective information."

Ongoing vioations

Activists observing the review, however, said they were doubtful of Hanoi's pledges and that they had provided information to diplomats about a range of rights abuses not acknowledged by the government delegation.

They cited the case of a Vietnamese writer Pham Chi Dung, a prominent government critic, who was stopped at the Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday while on his way to Geneva for the meeting.

Xuan Mai, a teacher in southern Vietnam's Tien Giang province, said after she heard of Dung's travel ban, she was not hoping for any significant changes in Vietnam's human rights situation as a result of the review.

"I'm not optimistic. The situation does not look bright," she said.

Nguyen Ngoc Bich of the Vietnamese American Association said writer Dung's being blocked from travel and other incidents "exposed obvious violations of human rights by Hanoi."

Raising awareness

Nguyen Van Thach, a blogger based in central Vietnam's Danang city, said Vietnamese activists' attendance at the UPR meeting as well as events organized by nongovernmental organizations on its sidelines had been crucial to raising awareness about rights abuses in the country.

"This activity was a way to prevent this information from being covered up," he said.

"Their voices are very important for improving the human rights situation in Vietnam in the near future."

Nguyen Anh Tuan, an outspoken blogger who traveled from Vietnam to discuss rights abuses with diplomats on the sidelines of the UPR, said he saw growing concern and awareness among Vietnamese people about monitoring rights violations through international processes such as the UPR.

"There are now just a few of them, but in the future there will be more," he said.

Ho Chi Minh City resident Hoang Vi said she saw more involvement by Vietnam's citizens in pushing for human rights protection.

"Regardless of what changes Vietnam will have, I see a lot of efforts made by different people. We should be optimistic and not look only for short-term results."

"Maybe in the short run there won't be anything, but there will be changes in the long run," she said.

Crackdown on bloggers

A day after the Geneva review, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report Thursday that Vietnam's crackdown on independent bloggers has intensified.

"As Vietnam lacks any privately run media, the blogosphere is the only space for critical reporting," it said.

Vietnam is second only to China for the number of journalists jailed, according to CPJ's annual prison census.

Reported by Kinh Hoa and Gwen Ha for RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

Link to original story on RFA website